12-16-2006 Canal Report (Specks! again)

[dixieangler]

The water was warm today. The wind was forecasted to be 5 to 10mph but as it turned out, it was a no wind day (not good). We also got rained on with a light rain. We started fishing at about 7am and stopped at about 12:30pm. The specks started biting after the rain stopped but when the wind completely died, they stopped biting. We got only four in the 10 and 11 inch range but we lost some too. The specks seemed to be "loosely schooled" because we were hit and miss today. We caught most like we always do on jigs tipped with minnows four feet below a float while drifting. I got one 10 inch speck on the 5wt. fly rod using a sinking line and a #8 yellow chartreuse Crappie Candy. My fishing buddy caught a real nice catfish that also went into the ice cooler. The bright spot was that we got enough for my fishing buddy and his wife to have a fry. The water needs to get cold again so we still need more cold weather.











I seriously considered not posting until the security measures are in place here on FAOL and the image and url links are up and running again. Since the photo links don't work until the security measures are met, you might want to copy and paste each entire url into a search engine to view.

Well, that doesn't work either right now. Sorry. Never mind. The IMG code is working for now.

[lee s]

dixie,
Grand report. I like your pics and your craft.
We did a crappie snoop this w/e, but no pics.
http://www.kiene.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=4838
...lee s.

[dixieangler]

Hi Lee,

The "craft" is a 17 foot Grumman square stern aluminum canoe with a 4-stroke Yamaha 2.5hp kicker on it (7mph top speed). It is my fishing buddy's canoe and we have to be extra quiet since it is aluminum. This is a big reason I'm looking for a small used square stern fiberglass canoe that I can load on my pick-up. Those canals that we fish stretch for many many miles. As you can see, there is a lot of water to cover to get to productive water and a kicker is necessary. A paddle only craft just can't get the job done.

[lee s]

Robert,
We used a tin canoe for some time in eastern Wa. An old Alumaweld. Sure miss that craft and we will end up with a plastic one before too long....we hope.
We used to have a loooong piece of carpet that got tossed in the bottom that helped quite a bit for deminishing noise and cold knees.

[STARMedic]

What do you feel are the essential "go to" flies for Speckled Trout?

Bruce

[dixieangler]

What do you feel are the essential "go to" flies for Speckled Trout?

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

The Specks I refer to above are freshwater, alias Speckled Perch or Calico Bass or Crappie. But if you want "Sea Trout" or "Spotted Seatrout" (we don't call them "Speckled" or "Specks" here where I live for obvious reasons above), see below.

Sorry I'm not over on the Saltwater Fly Fishing Forum as much as I ought to be. Gee, that's a tough one because sea trout down here seem to bite mostly the same kind of flies that redfish do. I like to use some gold spoon flies in sizes 1 and 2 (the spoon flies are my first choice). Brown Wooly Bugger or Clouser Minnow type flies with gold flash in them and green chartreuse ones with iridescent flash, both in the same sizes as the spoon flies with a few size 4s and 6s thrown in. Add some back-swimming shrimp flies in brown or gray (same sizes). Also some wider profile Crease Flies in white/redhead and in green chartreuse for surface baitfish flies (size 1 and 2). Find some weed beds on the flats with some holes and you should find sea trout and reds, and fish around either an incoming or outgoing tide if possible. Best of luck.

FWC Spotted Seatrout ID link:
http://myfwc.com/marine/FishID/drumspot.html

FWC Black Crappie ID link (see common names):
http://www.floridafisheries.com/Fishes/ ... ml#crappie

[lee s]

Bruce,
A friend of ours did SOME fishing in Texas somewhere for the specks you speak of. He used small baitfish immi's, very light weight clousers, surfcandies, and deceivers....mostly white and pearl highlights and mostly 2" or less (heavy on the less )
.....lee s.

[STARMedic]

Thanks for the info and sorry to confuse. Seems like Clousers are the Reese's Pieces of the fish world as we use them for LMB quite a bit here..

Bruce